Wonder Egg Priority is about a girl with heterochromia named Ai Ooto who buys an egg to be cracked in the dream world. When the egg (or "Wonder Egg") breaks, a girl appears whom she must protect from creatures called "Seeno Evils" and from a monster called "Wonder Killer" that represents the trauma of the wonder egg character.
However, Ai will not be the only girl with this task. She will also accompany other girls throughout the world of dreams. Among them is Neiru Aonuma, a taciturn girl; Rika Kawaii, a somewhat bully girl and quite sincere with what she thinks; and Momoe Sawaki, a girl with the appearance of a boy very popular among the girls of the school.
Now, let me extend my review to understand the concept of Wonder Egg Priority a bit:
As I said above, the girls buy a wonder egg (hence the name of the anime) and it breaks into the dream world. Upon hatching, a girl appears who must be protected from the Seeno Evils and the trauma depicted in the Wonder Killer. Apparently every girl on the Wonder Egg is a real person who passed away in real life.
To all this I add that there are also some statues, which appear in each girl's dream, which represent a loved one or friend who once passed away. For these two reasons, Ai, the main protagonist, decides to try harder in this task because she believes that by this means she can bring back to life her only friend, who committed suicide long before the beginning of the anime.
But the premise does not end here.
Although the girl with the wonder egg (that is, the person who hatches the Wonder Egg) seems to be far from the problems of the protagonists, in reality this is related to some hidden characteristic in the personality and past of the protagonist. This can be understood when our characters (Ai, Neiru, Rika or Momoe) strike up a conversation with the wonder egg girl or face the Wonder Killer. Which means that what our protagonists face is their past (Family Relations, Friendships, Harassment, Violence, Sexuality, etc.)
This also makes sense when we note that the statues - that is, the deceased loved ones of the protagonists - have a point in common with the girls from the Wonder Egg: Suicide…
We see throughout the series that the plot alternates between the world of dreams and real life. Within the world of dreams, each girl's dream is different from the other in terms of two things: Stage and the Wonder Egg. The scene is related to the death of the girl's acquaintance (For example, Ai's is in a high school) so the statue is also positioned somewhere. Although it is called a statue for some reason, it has human characteristics such as why the protagonists manage to feel their temperature, for example. The Wonder Eggs meanwhile have already been explained in the previous paragraphs.
Additionally there is a garden that is the center where the protagonists meet and buy the Wonder Eggs. There will be two living mannequins called Acca - who looks like an office worker - and Ura-Acca - who looks like a young university adult - who advise and guide the girls throughout the journey in the world of dreams.
The real world, on the other hand, is practically as we know it. Although we do not see it as often as the world of dreams, we can highlight Ai's house, where current events around the protagonist are constantly shown. Obviously it also works to showcase events from the girls' past.
The first part of the anime has an easy-to-understand running script, all of this handled excellently. I can assure you that although you may predict some elements behind the anime, there will be things that will leave you with more questions and wanting to know more about Wonder Egg.
However, the second part of the anime becomes a bit confusing when adding several elements in one fell swoop and the simplicity that was characteristic at first began to be forgotten in this second part trying to place more concepts without satisfying the viewer preferring to explain everything to the final which is not very pleasant to say.
Production problems also had an influence, such as the sacrifice of one of the episodes to become a recap, which probably caused more pressure on the script. However, this does not make the anime necessarily bad and with many things from the plot to be considered. In fact there are things about this anime that deserve merit:
We have a very dynamic cast, with characters that have different backgrounds from each other. Each one has a story and personality that manages to attract the viewer and feel an interest in why they decided to be part of the Wonder Egg. The friendship they form throughout the anime is a crucial point in Wonder Egg; The four girls spend a moment in real life meeting, talking and having fun times. For a psychological series, the relationship between our girls does not hinder the main focus of the plot. But this friendship is also conditioned because the girls help each other to overcome their problems and traumas, something that we will see when they speak or when they face the creatures within the world of dreams.
Summarizing the previous paragraphs, Wonder Egg seeks to explore other deeper issues within each protagonist, we can see this with some episodes dedicated exclusively to the biography of each one of them. Let's take for example a person like Rika who has a totally different story and personality than what is presented at the beginning. This is good because we better understand the characters and the reasons behind why they decided to do the job within the dream world. The bad thing is that the worldbuilding is so slow that understanding the system and rules that make the whole Wonder Egg theme work generates some confusion for the conventional viewer who usually would not need to think much to understand it.
Finishing my review of the story and characters, let's move on to the technical section:
The first thing that we must highlight obviously is its high quality of animation and soundtrack. There is a very vivid color palette in each fragment of the anime. CloverWorks did an excellent job, perhaps one of the best I've ever done, in animation and design. The characters are aesthetically pleasing and the background environment is, let's say, much more "happy and colorful" if we compare other similar works such as Puella Magi Madoka Magica. It is true that said anime made by Shaft has a much cuter design than CloverWorks, but Wonder Egg Priority mostly maintains the same aesthetic and does not progressively become something darker as Madoka Magica was.
Perhaps many hope that this anime is much darker like Serial Experiments Lain, Neon Geneis Evangelion or Puella Magi Madoka Magica herself, especially since Wonder Egg Priority takes suicide as its main focus, a consequence of different social problems that the series shows. However, the colorful design stands in stark contrast to the subject matter in depth, giving the viewer a lively and eye-catching look with a deep and complex plot.
However, the animation is not limited to presenting us with a pleasant and fresh atmosphere throughout the anime, we can also see an alternation with a more explosive style when the girls fight with the traumas. The fight scenes and the weapons used by the girls are a striking thing in those scenes. The viewer is going to be impressed even with the design of the traumas - The representations of the girls from the Wonder Egg - which get a spooky, but at the same time childish appearance. Even when animation falls into its worst production problems, such a problem does not necessarily spoil the enjoyment of each episode.
We have an Opening that perhaps fits like the ring to the finger to the anime and, perhaps, one of the best events so far this decade: A very relaxing ballad with the group Anemoneria - a group formed by the four main seiyuu for this anime - singing in unison, while our protagonist Ai Ohto walks around the city, fusing animation with some real images. At some point in the video, Neiru, Rika and Momoe appear respectively, although they have a more secondary role. The important aspect here is the emotional part of the song alluding to a farewell to something or someone from the past and opening up to tomorrow. The sentiment in this song is so strong that many could surely cry even though Wonder Egg Priority is not explicitly a melodrama.
On the other hand we have a more conventional ending and with a danceable pop style interpreted by Anemoneria herself while showing some images in photo album format the funny moments that the main protagonists spend giving a happier and more fun aesthetic, compared to the appearance calm and emotional of the Opening.
With all the technical stuff that was generally excellent, Wonder Egg Priority should be one of the best-crafted animes, and perhaps the best work CloverWorks has yet. Unfortunately, the production problems, a product of having made 3 anime in the same season and, probably, due to the pandemic, led the plot to begin to loosen and age not in a good way, placing the last episodes with a series of holes of plot and unanswered questions.
As a fan of an anime like Serial Experiments Lain I can say that the latest episodes were what I least expected from an anime like Wonder Egg Priority and unfortunately it also left me with questions.
But despite everything, I like this anime and it is not precisely because of its animation quality. I liked various things about the anime in general, like the first part of the anime which for me was handled quite well and a nice cast. No matter what type of viewer you are, you are likely to identify with one of the girls, especially since their personality and history are independent. I would go back to see the anime without problems to relive the good and bad moments that our protagonists lived. But I'd like Wonder Egg Priority to add a little more explanation to the plot, be it with more episodes, OVAS, or movies.
Wonder Egg Priority has a lot of potential and could easily be one of the best anime of this decade. Unfortunately 12 episodes were not enough to explain a world much bigger than previously thought.
